Facebook Lead Ads 101: How to Run Campaigns & Best Practices

Businesses seek for direct and meaningful connections with their audience. Look no further, Facebook Lead Ads is the optimal way to make it work! These ads outperform traditional methods, offering a direct path to capturing leads without the friction of external landing pages. Let’s make sure you understand and get full tips on how to run it effectively right in this blog!

What is Facebook Lead Ads?

Facebook Lead Ads is a powerful tool to help businesses capture interested customers’ information and turn them into qualified leads.

Unlike other Facebook ad types that redirect users to external landing pages, Lead Ads keep the user experience seamless and efficient. These ads present users with a pre-populated form directly within the Facebook platform, drawing on the information stored in their profiles. Users simply confirm the details, allowing businesses to collect valuable data for lead generation.

This innovative format enhances user convenience and significantly increases the likelihood of conversions, making Facebook Lead Ads a potent tool for businesses aiming to expand their customer base in the dynamic landscape of online marketing.

How Do Facebook Lead Ads Work?

The process of Facebook Lead Ads is simple and efficient. Facebook strategically displays lead ads across multiple sections of the social platform, including Facebook Messenger, news feeds, and articles. This strategic placement maximizes the likelihood of effectively reaching and engaging with your prospects.

From the viewpoint of a potential prospect, a lead ad appears indistinguishable from a typical link ad. When a user engages with a Lead Ad, a pre-populated form appears, pulling relevant information directly from the user’s Facebook profile. This eliminates the need for users to input details, reducing friction in the conversion process manually.

Once the user reviews and confirms the information, they will be added to the business email lists, opening the door to nurturing them with timely updates and enticing offers, such as demos, downloads, events, and discounts.

Benefits of Facebook Lead Ads to Businesses

The most prominent benefit of Lead Ads on Facebook is helping businesses to integrate with their social audiences and connect with them seamlessly. Meta technologies further enhance this process, particularly on mobile devices, by offering instant forms pre-filled with their contact details.

This streamlined approach simplifies the sign-up process for users, requiring just a few taps to access the information they seek. Consequently, businesses can effortlessly generate qualified leads, establishing a seamless connection with potential customers.

Moreover, businesses can also use Facebook Lead ad form to:

• Precise Audience Targeting: Businesses can tailor their lead ads to specific demographics, ensuring they reach the most relevant audience for their products or services. This precision significantly improves the quality of leads generated.
• Diverse Campaign Types: Facebook Lead Ads provide versatility in campaign types, allowing businesses to choose from demos, downloads, events, and discounts. This flexibility ensures that the ad aligns with the business’s specific goals.
• Strategic Ad Placement: Lead ads are strategically showcased across various sections of the Facebook platform, including Messenger, news feeds, and articles. This widespread visibility maximizes the chances of reaching and engaging with the target audience.
• Time and Cost Efficiency: By simplifying the lead generation process, businesses save both time and resources. Automating data collection and eliminating the need for external landing pages contribute to overall efficiency.
• Easy Form Customization: Businesses can design the lead ad form according to their needs. This includes exploring different question formats such as appointment requests, conditional questions based on user data, store locator menus, short answers, and multiple-choice questions.
• Integration with CRM Systems: Seamless integration with Customer Relationship Management systems allows businesses to manage and nurture leads.

How much do Facebook Lead Ads cost?

There are many factors that can affect the cost of lead ads on Facebook, such as:

• Industry: Some industries, like competitive B2B spaces or highly saturated markets, naturally have higher costs due to increased competition for ad space.
• Target audience: Smaller, more niche audiences are often more expensive to reach, while broader audiences can be cheaper per lead.
• Ad quality: Attractive visuals, compelling copy, and well-targeted ads tend to perform better and attract more relevant leads, ultimately lowering your cost per lead.
• Campaign parameters: Bidding higher or running shorter campaigns might lead to higher costs initially but could be strategically beneficial depending on your goals.

On average, you could expect to pay around $19.68 per lead, but it could be significantly higher or lower depending on the abovementioned factors. According to recent data analytics, the average CPA for lead ads is around $17.98, with a conversion rate of 12.54%.

>>>> Read more: Facebook Advertising Cost Breakdown [Data Updated 2024]

Facebook Lead Ads Requirements

Different from normal Facebook ad types, Lead Gen Ads on Facebook require the following criteria:

• Link to the Privacy Policy for your business – where you can address the collection and use of user data and capture whatever consent you feel you need from the user to comply with the law.
• Information for your reasonably prominent notice –  let people know why you collect contact information and how you will use or share it.
• Required information or fields for managing your leads.

When it comes to crafting effective Facebook Lead Ads, technical Facebook Ads Sizes play a crucial role in ensuring optimal performance and user experience. Here’s a detail of Facebook lead gen ad specs you need to know:

• Ads with images:
  • Recommended size: 1200 x 628 pixels
  • Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 (preferred)
  • File type: JPG or PNG
  • Maximum file size: 30 MB
  • Text overlay: Maximum 20% of the image area
  • Headline: 40 characters (max)
  • Link description: 30 characters (max)
• Ads with featured video:
  • Recommended length: 15 seconds (max)
  • Aspect ratio: 4:5 (preferred) or 16:9
  • File type: MP4 or MOV
  • Maximum file size: 4 GB
  • Headline: 25 characters (max)
  • Link description: 30 characters (max)
• Form Fields:
  • Maximum number of fields: 10 (recommended)
  • Types of fields: Name, email, phone number, website, address, date, multiple choice, dropdown, etc.
  • Customization: Form title, description, field titles, and pre-populate fields with user data (optional)

How to Create Facebook Lead Ads?

Creating lead ads on Facebook is pretty simple when you already have a Facebook ad account. Follow Mega Digital to set up a Lead Gen Ad campaign on Facebook:

>>>> Read more: Simple walkthrough to create a Facebook ad account in 5 steps 

Step 1: Choose Your Campaign Objective

• With Facebook Lead ads, advertisers can only choose “Leads” as their primary campaign objective.
• You can choose Automatic or Manual settings for your ads at this stage.
• Select the Facebook Page from which you want to run the ad and accept the Lead Ads terms and conditions.
• Navigate to the Performance goal section and select one based on your campaign objectives.
  • Maximize the Number of Leads.
  • Maximize Conversion Leads: Although not mandatory, we strongly recommend setting up and integrating your CRM before selecting this option. This step ensures a more effective approach to reaching higher-quality leads for your campaign.

Step 2: Set Up Ad Features

• In the ad setup section, choose between Single image or video, or Carousel.
  • (Optional) Ensure the checkbox for Multi-advertiser ads is checked in the same section. This allows your instant form to appear alongside ads and instant forms from multiple businesses with related products or services.
• In the ad creative section, include Media, Headline, Description, and Call to action for your ad.

Step 3: Build Instant Form

• Navigate to Destination and either click “Create form” to generate a new form or select an existing form from the list.
  • If creating a new form, a template library pop-up window will appear. 
  • You can either start from scratch or choose from various template options such as Find prospective students, General services, Offer a course catalogue, or Tell your school’s story.

• Under Form type, select the goal of your lead generation campaign: More volume, Higher intent, or Rich creative.
  • More Volume: Quickly collect leads with minimal friction.
  • Higher Intent: Capturing more qualified leads by introducing a review step in the form.
  • Rich Creative: Integrating rich media elements and detailed information for a comprehensive user experience.
• Click “Intro” to add an introduction section. This is optional for “More volume” or “High intent”, but mandatory for “Rich creative”.
• Go to “Custom questions”, and click + Add question. Include at least one question, with the option to add up to 15 custom questions.
• Under “Prefill questions”, input text in the Description to explain the use of collected information. Specify the type of information, e.g., email address and phone number, for auto-population. Add categories as needed.

• Click “Privacy Policy” to insert your Privacy Policy URL and link text.
• Optionally, click + Add custom disclaimer to include additional notices, like marketing opt-ins and legal disclaimers.
• Click Message for leads to add a headline, description, call-to-action button, link, and call-to-action text to inform users about post-submission actions.

Once done, click Save draft or Publish. Save draft retains a revised draft, while Publish finalizes and publishes your form. Note that after publishing, you cannot edit the instant form.

Best Practices for Running Facebook Lead Ads Effectively

Running Facebook Lead Ads requires a strategic approach to maximize their effectiveness in generating valuable leads. Here are some best practices to ensure a successful campaign:

• Define Clear Objectives: Clearly outline your lead generation goals. Whether increasing newsletter sign-ups or driving product inquiries, having a defined objective helps shape your ad strategy.
• Strategic Placement: Experiment with different ad placements across Facebook, including Messenger, news feeds, and articles. Evaluate where your target audience is most active and adjust placements accordingly.
• Selecting the Right Form Type: Choose the type that aligns with your campaign goal. Understanding the purpose will guide your form creation, whether it’s More volume, Higher intent, or Rich creative.
• Engaging Intro Section: If opting for Rich creative, include an engaging introduction section. This is a mandatory step to provide context and capture user interest.
• Custom Questions: Tailor your lead form with relevant and concise custom questions. Strike a balance between gathering essential information and not overwhelming the user.
• Clear Privacy Policy: Be transparent about how collected information will be used. Include a clear Privacy Policy and explain the purpose of building trust with potential leads.
• Form Customization: Tailor your lead forms to collect relevant information while maintaining user-friendly formats. Avoid overly complex or intrusive questions.
• Message for Leads: Leverage the Message for Leads section to provide additional information about the next steps after form submission. This reinforces communication and manages user expectations.
• Integration with CRM: If applicable, integrate your lead ads with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems for streamlined lead management and nurturing.
• Adherence to Guidelines: Ensure compliance with Facebook’s ad guidelines and policies. Adhering to these guidelines avoids penalties and maintains a positive brand image.

By incorporating these best practices into your Facebook Lead Ads strategy, you can optimize your campaigns for success and drive meaningful results in your lead generation efforts.

Learn More: Top Facebook Lead Ads Examples & Updated Insights for 2024

Final Word

Facebook Lead Ads offer more than just data collection; they pave the way for businesses to narrate their story, showcase their value, and convert leads into lasting relationships. As you embark on your lead generation journey, may your ads be compelling, your forms intuitive, and your connections enduring. If you want to skip the lengthy Facebook advertising setup and aim for optimized campaigns, then book a talk with us to further transform leads into opportunities.